Wednesday, February 2, 2011

In Parallel: Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley

Antony Gormley

It’s not so much his drawings that I find interesting but more his sculptures that look like drawings. Pieces like Quantum Cloud(1998-2008) give the impression of being figure studies using set rules such as: you can only use straight lines and the bars have to touch at certain points. The materials in theses sculptures are neutral in colour which is also why I relate them to drawing (even though I realize that painting is drawing in colour). I could easily see a crosshatched drawing in ink looking like this . . . but this is in three dimensions.

But, his drawings emit a silent but strong physical presence that I also gravitate to. His contours/silhouettes of figures have a sense of weight, due in part to the thick black ink used to render them. Another thing I like about his drawings (especially some of his ink washes) is that they look like the inevitable result of using the chosen material: the medium evokes the message.

Antony Gormley

I think it’s very interesting to see the two mediums in parallel because you get the sense of the other in the work: you think of his drawings when you look at his sculpture and vice versa. I like the idea of the body as a place and not just an object in space, it makes me consider the physical presence of my body as I make drawings (much like the exercise we did with using different body parts).